Psycho-Babble Medication Thread 1011879

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Lamictal Any positive experiences?

Posted by never2late on February 27, 2012, at 22:59:11

Hey,

I have been titrating Lamictal for the last week and a half getting ready to go from 25 mg to 50 in a few days.

Current dosing is Effexor 150 XR Concerta 54 mg Klonopin .5 3 X daily and Ritalin IR 10 Mg 2x daily.

I had instability in my moods prior to the Lamictal. Now I just feel a low less severe depression with increased difficulties with motivation, less interest in sex, absolutely no pleasure in anything that I do.

I am not sure if the lamictal is the cause of or if my body has just adjusted to the effexor dose and I need and increase.

Has anyone tried Lamictal as on add on to their AD? Was your experience similar? How do I know if if it is going to work for me (meaning how high of a dosage do I need in order to judge if it is worth sticking with?)

Also does it matter that it is not an XR formula? When dosing at night does the medication stay with me through out the day?

My doc said once I hit 50 mg I would know if it was a good combo. I dont know what to expect as I have been a bit more annoyed with people in general lately, every day is stupid people day. I dunno if this is from the lamictal or not.

Anyway anyone have any POSITIVE experiences to share? I would like to know what to look for to determine if it is a good fit for me.

Thanks

 

Re: Lamictal Any positive experiences?

Posted by Christ_empowered on February 28, 2012, at 1:03:18

In reply to Lamictal Any positive experiences?, posted by never2late on February 27, 2012, at 22:59:11

I have a psychotic mood disorder. I took 15 Abilify and 200 lamictal. The lamictal does have a "calming" effect--things are less intense, which kinda sucks, but is probably good when you're dealing with psychosis and agitation and depression--but its relatively mild. When I quit it (for no particular reason), my agitation increased and my anxiety went up a bit, but my thinking was more lucid and faster. This held true even after I went back up to 30 abilify.

So, I don't know what to tell you. The antidepressant effect was most intense at 100; 200 was more like mild mood elevation and some calming action. I don't remember any effects at 50, but we take entirely different meds and have entirely different brain and problems.

It is an anticonvulsant, so I'd expect a degree of...calming, I guess is a good word. Its not a stimulant or an antidepressant; it usually doesn't trigger mania or anything.

Maybe the Ritalin+Klonopin combo is part of the issue? I'm not second guessing your doc, just saying when I took adderall+klonopin, my moods were unstable.

 

Re: Lamictal Any positive experiences?

Posted by Phillipa on February 28, 2012, at 10:01:55

In reply to Re: Lamictal Any positive experiences?, posted by Christ_empowered on February 28, 2012, at 1:03:18

It wasn't that bad but found I got angry at 50mg of lamictal. That was as far as I got as got a rare side effect excess salivation so had to stop the med. Phillipa

 

Re: Lamictal Any positive experiences?

Posted by mellow on February 28, 2012, at 15:56:06

In reply to Lamictal Any positive experiences?, posted by never2late on February 27, 2012, at 22:59:11

I've been on Lamictal for 6 years. It saved my life! You are on a lot of drugs if you are adding Lamictal on top of all that. The stimulants could be causing some of the agitation and irritability.

What's your diagnosis. It doesn't really matter in the long run but it matters depending on how your doc is forming a med strategy. Effexor is the most know antidepressant to induce mania and you sound like you could be having some dysphoric type mania or hypopmania. Putting Lamictal on top of it may calm things down and hit the sweet spot but I still think you need to look at the ritalin if you go through your days thinking everyone is annoying and stupid. Stimulant can cause mania and irritability too.

mellow

 

Re: Lamictal Any positive experiences?

Posted by never2late on February 28, 2012, at 23:59:37

In reply to Lamictal Any positive experiences?, posted by never2late on February 27, 2012, at 22:59:11

My diagnosis is MDD, SAD, GAD, and ADD.

I am not too sure about experiencing any type of mania. I work customer service and people get very demanding and needy and sometimes it gets to the point that I get really annoyed with it. Being called by 4 different people at the same time and working with people who refuse to learn to do anything because if they dont do it I do can get frustrating.

I dont think this qualifies as manic. I am happy to read that at higher doses it has a calming effect. I would like to not take as much klonopin during the day, maybe I wont need to if the lamictal helps.

The ritalin is essential to my treatment of ADD. I graduated undergrad with a 2.01 having repeated many classes in roder to graduate. After being diagnosed with ADD I returned to school and am now able to pull A's in 400 level classes. My thinking is less scattered and my reading comprehension has improved tremendously.

I have noticed that I need alot more sleep since starting the lamictal. 9 hours seems to be the perfect amount, which is tough to do every night. Ill keep with it. Today is the day I increase to 50 mg.

The other med my doc wanted to throw into the mix after we find out if lamictal works is Intuniv. So well see how things shake out.

 

Re: Lamictal Any positive experiences?

Posted by stewie on February 29, 2012, at 8:35:25

In reply to Lamictal Any positive experiences?, posted by never2late on February 27, 2012, at 22:59:11

Once I got to about 100 mgs of lamictal, it was a really good combo with celexa for quite a few months until the whole combo pooped out on me...

 

Re: Lamictal Any positive experiences?

Posted by never2late on March 3, 2012, at 23:01:18

In reply to Re: Lamictal Any positive experiences?, posted by stewie on February 29, 2012, at 8:35:25


So far I have been feeling better- definitely more stability in my mood. I noticed that I feel like I am sleeping better too. I havent been able to recall any dreams that I have had for last 5-8 years. But around the 2nd week of laical right before I upped the dosage I began to notice that I was waking up more refreshed, and recalled dreaming during the night.

I also notice that I feel best when getting 8-9 hours of sleep. 6 hours and my moods feel low, and I crave a nap, which helps make up the difference if I could get a full nights rest.

This seems contrary to other posts that I have read about lamictal and sleep. Most begin with Lamictal and insomnia, and what can I take with Lamictal to help me sleep, so I am a bit puzzled, but happy that it is having a positive effect.

I have several weddings coming up and I wanted to test the waters with alcohol. I had a few drinks last night and today - as I expected I was depressed later in the day. No blackouts during the night. I actually had an ok time. I only ingested 3 scotches. No real hangover just depressed later in the day. I felt it was tolerable but I will definitely use the experience as a deterrent from drinking in the future.


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